The Lagos State Government announced over the weekend that the ban on the usage and distribution of Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) will be fully enforced statewide on July 1, 2025.
Speaking at Alausa Secretariat during a courtesy visit by the management of TETRA PAK West Africa Limited, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, said the State has been very strategic and intentional about the ban on Single-Use Plastics (SUPs).
According to him, “The decision to ban Single Use Plastics in Lagos since the beginning of 2025 was an existential decision which is the aftermath of several factors; Lagos being a coastal states below the sea level with the smallest land mass of 3,575 square kilometre and about 10% of the country’s population; That alone is a recipe for crisis. We did not just wake up whimsically and choose to ban Styrofoam food packs in 2024”.
“When we announced the ban of Styrofoam food packs in 2024, we also announced that in the next 12 months we are taking out all single use plastics; Within the space of almost 18 months now, we believe that we have allowed everyone to transition: bearing in mind that enforcement did not commence since January this year, but we are going to start by July 1, 2025 and heavens will not fall”.
Wahab explained that the state officials are constantly engaging the Food and Beverages Recyclers Alliance (FBBRA), and about 70% compliance rate has been recorded. He added that if government has had conversations with FBBRA Members earlier in the year and after a 12 months cycle with an additional six months to allow the people get their bearing, then everyone concerned must to be fair to the state, stressing that it is a call for the responsibility of the extended producers to the state.
“When producers, with due respect, seek to undermine the system and seek to do things that are not done in any civilised country, we must be insistent that the right things must be done by making them responsible. Today we are here, we are all birds of passage, tomorrow we will not be here. Let them say of us that we did the right thing at the right time for the greater good of our people. And that is what all these are all about”, he added.
Wahab said many of the people involved are well-travelled, and what a lot of them are trying to put into the legal system are not allowed anywhere in the world anymore, stressing that if 18 months is not enough to transition, then it shows producers are not serious about any transitioning.
“By July 1st, we will start full enforcement of the ban on Single Use Plastics (SUPs) just the way we did for styrofoam food packs in Lagos states, and we believe that this is reasonable enough. Let me also say this. “When we were to announce the ban on styrofoam food packs, we had engagements and I remember people were worried, and we felt we would not throw away the baby with the bathwater”, he emphasised.
He said Styrofoam food packs is useless except for those that are using them for commercial purpose, adding that for Single Use Plastics, they are a bit more complicated and the government factored in the complexity of discussions as well as the engagement that explains why the government said 12 months but deliberately chose not to enforce in January but pushed the enforcement again now to end of June making 18 months after.
The Commissioner said once the products are properly tracked, collecting them as well as recycling them and putting them to proper use gives everyone comfort, noting that comfort is what the government is determined to put in place for the betterment of all citizens.
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director, TetraPark West Africa Limited, Mr. Haithem Debbiche, said the banning of usage on SUPs is a welcome development, adding that his organisation fully support the ban of single-use plastics in Lagos State.
He said Tera Park is all about sustainability and the organisation has been in Nigeria since 1970, working together with various partners to make food safe and available to everyone regardless of their socioeconomic class.
“We just want you to know that we are fully in support of the Laws of the Lagos State government and we have been making significant progress, but we recognise there is still a lot more to be done”, he said.
Also in attendance at the meeting were the Permanent Secretaries, Office of Environmental Services, Dr. Gaji Omobolaji Tajudeen; Drainage Services, Engr. Mahmood Adegbite, Managing Director of Lagos Waste Management Authority, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, General Manager, WasteWater Management Office, Engr. Adefemi Afolabi, as well as other Directors from the Ministry.
